Movie Review: The Expendables 2 (2012)

The Expendables 2 (2012)
A movie review by Dave Randal

Genre: Action | Adventure
Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, Randy Couture
Director: Simon West
Writers: Richard Wenk(story and screenplay), David Agosto(story), Ken Kaufman(story), Sylvester Stallone(screenplay), Dave Callaham(characters)
Studios: Nu Image, Millennium Films
Distributed by: Lionsgate
Release Date: August 17, 2012
Plot: Mr. Church reunites the Expendables for what should be an easy paycheck, but when one of their men is murdered on the job, their quest for revenge puts them deep in enemy territory and up against an unexpected threat.

In 2010 Sylvester Stallone gave us a film with an ensemble cast of action movie icons. That movie was The Expendables. It was exciting to see so many action movie stars on the big screen, but creatively it fell very short. It did great at making a lot of money though and Stallone almost immediately began work on a sequel called The Expendables 2. I'm glad to say that this movie was much more satisfying than it's predecessor.

Stallone's character Barney Ross and his team of mercenaries are called upon again by secretive CIA agent Mr. Church, played by Bruce Willis, to do what seems to be a pretty easy mission. During the mission they run into some devil worshiping bad guys called the Sangs. The Sangs are lead by a former member of the French Foreign Legion, Jean Villain, played by Jean-Claude Van Damme. The Sangs kill a member of the Expendables and that prompts our heroes to seek out the Sangs and get revenge.

From top to bottom The Expendables 2 is much better than the first movie. The costumes are better, the action set pieces are better, and the overall story is better. It isn't a perfect movie, but you can tell the filmmakers decided to make this movie more fun and enjoyable. The action is more over the top which is exactly what it needed to be a tribute to classic action movies from the '80s.

Most of the cast from the first movie are back in the sequel. Statham is back as Lee Christmas and still has good chemistry with Stallone. Lundgren is back and is more of a comedic character this time with some of his real life background written into the character. Terry Crews is back and is a little less filler than he was in the last movie with a bit more of a defined character in this movie. Randy Couture is really still just filler, but he does alright for what he's suppose to do which is basically just have his cauliflower ears made fun of again. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis reprise their roles as Trench and Mr. Church, but this time they get more than just cameos and actually see some action.

Even though the cast is pretty much the same there were a few changes. Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games 2012) is added tot eh team of mercenaries as young Billy the Kid. Jet Li is only in the beginning of the movie and is quickly replaced by a woman named Yu Nan who plays CIA agent Maggie Chan. Chuck Norris is added to the cast and is used mostly as a gimmick somewhat parodying his characters from Good Guys Wear Black (1978) and Missing in Action (1984). Jean-Claude Van Damme may not sound like he would have a lot of charisma as a villain, but he comes off as pretty badass in this movie.

The action looks much better in this sequel due to there being no shaky cam. The characters are a bit more defined and the movie comes off as a pretty decent tribute to old action B-Movies from the '80s and '90s. If you weren't satisfied with the first movie then I strongly suggest to at least give this one a try.

Dave Randal's Rating- Thumbs Up

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